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DECRIPTION OF THE MODULE

Items Description of the Module

Subject Name Sociology

Paper Name Classical Sociological Theory

Module Name/Title Weber’s Conception of History: Rationality and

Disenchantment

Pre Requisites Social sciences, philosophy, historicism, and

Weber’s Rationalisation process

Objectives The main objective of this paper is to explore Max

Weber conception of history, rationality and

disenchantment. Not to live the paper hanging a

brief assessment will follow.

Key words capitalism Socialism, Proleterait, Bourgeoisie, The

Indian, Primitive communism,

MODULE STRUCTURE

Weber’s Conception of History: Rationality and

Disenchantment A discourse on Weber’s Conception of History, Disenchantment and Rationality.

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CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

WEBERS COCEPTION OF HISTORY: RATIONALITY AND DISENCHANTMENT

Introduction

The entry of human society into modernity inspired many sociologists to comment on it. Some

sociologists were in favour of this movement while some others remained suspicious of this

event. The entry into modernity also meant new rules of engagement- new modern nation-

states, market-capitalism, bureaucracy and rationality. It was in this situation that Weber argued

that human kind is headed towards an iron cage. He rightly envisioned that the formal rules

and laws together with the formalized principles of bureaucracy would lead to a state when

humans and their relationships would be objectified. This disenchantment that Weber espoused

bears certain resemblance to Hegel’s phenomenology of the Spirit and to that of Marx’s

dialectical materialism. However for Weber, the transformation of European history is best

accounted for not in terms of protracted struggle for political freedom and equality or for

proletarian revolution and empowerment but as a progressive and degenerative process that

dilutes human-ness for a world that is robotic.

One thing that stands out very clearly in Weber’s historical process is that he sees history to be

ruled by a rational process. The moving force of history is rationality. There is a movement

from more primitive ways of understanding the world to more modern’s ways. There is a

movement form tradition to rationality, from magic to religion and from religion to science;

science which is an end product of the enlightenment movement and the French and Industrial

revolutions.

As he dives deeper into historical analysis, one thing that stands out clear in Weber’s account

of history is the dimension of the play of the formation of idle types. Idle types of Protestantism

and capitalism are fluid and interchangeable; they reverse roles, overcome each other at

different points in time and reciprocally influence each other.1 There is an element of chance

too in Weber’s historical account. The fact that the theological conception of the calling and

1 David Chalcraft et al, Marx Weber Matters: Interweaving past and the Present, (London: Ashgate Publishing

ltd), 80.

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predestination appear at particular moments in history and that a form of economic enterprise

focused profit arises as well are not the result of some logic guiding history but rather chance.2

When we relate the works of Weber and Marx, we see that Karl Marx has dealt more with the

economic history of human history and for him the relations of production and means and

modes and ownership of production were the ways in which history could be comprehended.

Some scholars view Weber as being more sophisticated in his understanding of multiple causes

of ideology and politics of modernity and capitalism. Just as Marx was able to view human

history from a larger frame though some scholars view his perspective as teleological and

Eurocentric so was Weber’s comprehension. But Weber is more attuned to the variability and

complexity of human cultural and historical patterns.3 Where Marx over systematizes and

emphasizes the importance of economic relations, reducing all cultural and historical

complexities to a single cause and one multi-linear historical process, Weber with his

methodology of “idle types”4 acknowledges complexity and multi-causality. Finally Weber’s

historical process is contained in the struggle through which rationality a product of modern

society (virtue), transcends irrationality (Vice), freedom over un-freedom.5 After having briefly

summed up the trajectory of Max Weber’s conception of history, we shall now address the

three periods that are portrayed in the process. This will help us when we shall be discussing

disenchantment. Weber also attempted to paint human history through large strokes such as

Marx and argued that human history has generally moved through phases- magic, religion and

modernity.

1.1.1. The Era of Magic

The era of Magic falls within the enchanted age. In the enchanted age of magic, Weber

holds that the means of control was conditioned by the belief that the natural environment is

governed by spiritual forces residing in and beyond the immanent order of nature itself. This

means that in the era of magic the basis of controlling nature is at the bottom, a matter of

establishing a means of influence over the super natural forces that inform it. It is good to note

before we proceed, that that the era of magic is often termed by Weber as the traditional society.

2 Stuart Macintyre, (2011), The Oxford history of Historical Writings vol.4, (United Kingdom: OUP Oxford) 53. 3 Ellen. M. Woods, (2007), Democracy against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism (Britain: Cambridge

University Press), 146. 4 Weber's discussion of social action is an example of the use of an ideal type. An ideal type provides the basic

method for historical-comparative study. It is not meant to refer to the best or to some moral ideal, but rather a

typical or logically consistent" features of social institutions or behaviours. 5 Jose Lopez, (2003), Society and its Metaphor: Language, Social Theory and Social Structure, (New York:

Continuum), 38.

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Magic then for Weber is the name given to the art that has its purpose, the extension of power

over a spiritualized natural realm.6

Moreover one of the distinguishing marks characteristic of magic according to Weber

and one which distinguishes it sharply from modern technology is its relative inability to affect

real control over natural processes. Magic then for Weber is an important art. Its successes are

largely fortuitous and its failure conveniently interpreted by its practioners as signs of

impendency success. One of the reasons why the enchanted world of magic yielded less results

is the fact that the will to command nature’s obedience is checked by an opposing will, the will

of nature or more precisely the will of the spiritual forces that oversee the operation.7

1.1.2. The Era of Religion

In the rational historical process of Weber, he sees religion as a force that had changed

society and stands significant. The magical world or society or era gave way to the religious

society or era. What happened with religion is the fact that along with science religion served

to rationalize and ultimately erode the magical mythical world view. The shift in historicity at

this juncture as we have already seen is the shift from magic to religion. In the era of religion

what was at play is, religion demanded a more coherent meaningful justification of human

suffering8 and most important by the enumeration of directives outlining the way of life most

likely to win salvation.

Another key facet of this era is that religious disciplined action; neither leisure nor

contemplation was interpreted as a sign of Gods glory. Labour was perceived as mere means

to satisfy the immediate material interest of the individual and his community. Worldly activity

for Weber was ennobled and given a sense of inner dignity when in the Calvinist mind, it was

seen in a sense as a visible confirmation of one’s faith. But in the modern period the work ethic

as Weber will put it, will express itself in the more secular form. We will come to discover

that in the modern era every ascetic action has come to be regarded as an activity of intrinsic

worth as a good in and for itself.9

6 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, (New

York: University of New York Pres), 29. 7 Ibid, 29. 8 Gilbert .G. Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, (New

York: University of New York Pres), 35 9 Ibid, 35.

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At its height the phase of religion (he is referring to catholic Christianity) was dominant

of the medieval period or the Middle Ages as many will call it. The medieval religious practices

were linked with the church which found itself stranded with tradition and belief that the

working of miracles was the most efficacious means of demonstrating its monopoly of faith.

By the twelfth and thirteen century, the lives of the saints had assumed a stereotyped pattern

wherein they glorified the miraculous achievements of holy people, discussed how they could

prophesise, control the weather, provide protection against fire and flood and bring relief to the

sick. Again an enchanted worldview was at play here.10

Whilst ideas such as these continued into the modern era, there is a decline was in

religion and the super naturalistic worldview started experiencing erosion. Although the

erosion began during the Renaissance and reformation, Weber would say from the time of

industrial revolution, it had significantly picked up.11

1.1.3. The Modern Era

The renaissance and later the enlightenment era brought in drastic changes in human

history. The French revolution, American war of independence brought in reason, science,

rationality and logic as the basis of assuming human society and human reality. By the

enlightenment period, there was a change in belief structures and the normative order of

society. There was a great rational revolution, and the values and the unity of meaning that

prevailed in the magical-mythical society was being pushed out of the realm of rationality. The

old cosmos of meaning was replaced in the modern period with cosmic configuration typified

by the emergence of differentiated value spheres for example political, scientific and aesthetic

each possessing its own immanent norms. In the modern society reason reigned supreme,

religion becomes a thing of the past; there was a move from the sacred to the secular. There

was a shift from the supernatural to the natural, from the divine to the human. Science now

becomes the true religion. The rational man according to Weber becomes the agent to control

capitalism and all other social systems in society. So Max Weber takes us to a period of

disenchantment and deconstruction. All institutional ethics and traditionalism are relegated to

the background. The prime terminology responsible for this shift and move is disenchantment

in Weber’s terminology or secularization as many philosophers of the time will term it.

10 Badham. P, ( 2001), Religious state and Society in Modern Britain, (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen) 11 Barker. C, (2000) Cultural Studies: Theory and practice, (London; Sage), 10.

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This period can be characterized for its transformation in terms of ideas and processes. There

is a rejection of mysticism in favor of materialism, of superstition in favour of science, of

rulership by ecclesiastically supported divine right in favour of government based on

contractual legal principle, of human inspiration and originality in favour of method and

repeatability, of moral agency in favour of reflex and conditioning as the determinants of

behaviour, and of oral tradition with a secular faith in historical progress in terms of scientific

and technology advances, expanding economies and the realization of utopian and social

possibilities. The protestant science and industry which Weber takes a lot of interest in puts

knowledge within the grasp of the common man and make the acquisition of wealth a positive

social objective for all. This is called the protestant ethic and capitalism becomes the order of

the day. This protestant ethic of cultivating science and industry according to Weber in this era,

was able to maintain the myth of progress or rapid upward evolution thanks to the huge deposits

of fossil fuels, primarily coal and oil, that modern societies where able to exploit.12 This was

typical of Germany at that point of time.

1.2.DISENCHANTMENT

Marx Weber defines disenchantment as the process whereby magic and spiritual

mystery are driven from the world, nature is managed rather than enchanted, the spiritual loses

significance and the institutions and laws do not depend on religion for their legitimization13

In other words, it is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of mysticism including God

apparent in modern society. Max Weber uses it to describe the character of modernized,

bureaucratic, secularized Western Society, where science is more highly valued than belief,

and where processes are oriented toward rational goals as opposed to traditional society where,

in Weber's words: the world remains a great enchanted garden.

As already mention religious beliefs and symbols are being disenchanted and

abandoned. Now when one critically go through Weber’s whole polemics of disenchantment

one realizes that, there are two striking points he highlights. These are disenchantment of the

World and disenchantment of nature. I shall briefly discuss these two points separately, though

they are interlinked.

1.2.1. Disenchantment of the World

12 Paul Connelly, (2008 ), Modernity in the Sequence of Historical Eras,

http://www.darc.org/connelly/religion5.html, ( Accessed 5th November 2015) 13 Christopher Partridge, (2005), The Re-enchantment of the West, (London: A/B Black), 11.

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What does it mean to say the world is disenchanted? According to Weber the answer is

simple, and straightforward. The world is disenchanted when it is assumed that one can in

principle master all things by calculations.14 In other terminology Weber says that the fate of

our times is the disenchantment of the world by which he meant the dissipation of mysterious

incalculable forces from the workings of nature.15 He advances that, an intellectualist

rationalism promoted first and foremost by the growing empirical sciences had shifted people’s

epistemic attitude to the world, now holding that any phenomenon is knowable in principle and

that knowledge and mastery of the world is obtainable through technical means and

calculations.16 The disenchantment of the world had very specific consequences for the relation

between religion and science. So in principle for Weber, the world is disenchanted when man’s

bearing towards his environment both natural and social is informed by the belief that it can be

manipulated by means of calculations. Taking from this background onwards, Weber rejects

the de facto mastery of the world because it is not a precondition for disenchantment; rather,

the world is disenchanted when it is perceived as potential object of mastery regardless of the

actual level of calculative control attained by a particular social order.17

Moreover, Weber also makes it clear in his arguments that, the disenchanted world

basing from what has been said in the few lines above, need no longer have recourse to magical

means in order to master or implore the spirit as did the savage, for whom such mysterious

powers existed. Now technical means and calculations perform the service. Science and

technology replaces magic as the preferred means of control. The general picture painted here

for a disenchanted world by Weber, is one in which all domains within society are restructured

in accordance with the demands of technological rationality. It assumes all things can be

mastered through calculations as already mentioned18and scientific progress is the most

important element in the intellectualization of the world.

1.2.2. Disenchantment of Nature

Weber talks of the disenchantment of the world to signify that modernity is

distinguished by an understanding that assumes all things and not just non-human nature can

be mastered through calculations. Now the object of a disenchanted world includes the natural

14 Gilbert. G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 4. 15 Weber, Max. ‘Science as a Vocation’. In: H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Trans. and eds.), From Max

Weber: Essays in Sociology, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946). 155. 16 Ibid, 139. 17 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 28. 18 Ibid 39.

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and the human dimension comes in too. In the natural society according to Weber, reality was

confronted through mediation. Here the spirit interposes itself between the human and the

natural realm. So while in the magical society, reality was confronted through mediation or

indirectly, the modern sciences confronts its object directly. So the magician current

counterpart no longer operates under the assumption that nature is alive and in possession of

an unfathomable life-force.

Rather than viewing nature as some kind of recalcitrant benefactor who has to be

cajoled into dispensing a few meager; the modern scientists regard nature as an impersonal

order whose abducasy is an illusion created by human ignorance of its ways. The repacaustion

of the world of this height is quite dramatic. To sum up, the disenchanted of nature from

Weber’s perspective, simply becomes a movement away from deifying the world, and making

the world a control rather than be controlled. Enchantment of the world in the form of stewards

loses its taste to a disenchanted world where dominance of the world is the hour of the time.

Instead of the world to be seen as being guided by or controlled or conditioned by spiritual

forces residing it, the world is just seen to be the way it is an there is nothing so spectacular or

fascinating about it.

1.3.RATIONALIZATION

Rationalization is the movement over time away from institutional structures that

engender actions based on the emotional, mystical, traditional, and religious, toward

institutional structures that produce actions based on reason, calculability, predictability, and

efficiency. It was in the light of his theory on rationalization that Weber viewed both the

progress and the growing disenchantment of Germany.

The rationalization process is the practical application of knowledge to achieve a

desired end. It leads to efficiency, coordination, and control over both the physical and the

social environment.19 It is a product of scientific specialization and technical differentiation

that seems to be a characteristic of Western culture. It is the guiding principle behind

bureaucracy and the increasing division of labor as Weber will put it. It has led to the

unprecedented increase in both the production and distribution of goods and services. It is also

associated with secularization, depersonalization, and oppressive routine. Increasingly, human

behavior is guided by observation, experiment and reason (zweckrational) to master the natural

19 Freund, Julien (1968). The Sociology of Max Weber. (New York: Vintage Books), 69.

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and social environment to achieve a desired end.20 Rationalization is the most general element

of Weber's theory. He identifies rationalization with an increasing division of labor,

bureaucracy and mechanization.21 He associates it with depersonalization, oppressive routine,

rising secularism, as well as being destructive of individual freedom.

1.3.1. Modes of Rationalization

In order to make sense of Weber’s somewhat convoluted theory of rationalization

especially as related to the linkage between the two disenchantment of nature and the world, it

is important to note as Honigshein puts it, that, the many strands of the intellectualization

process issue from a common source.22 This is to say that the various intellectualizations are

instances of a single mode of rationality. These modes are seen in the tension between what

Weber calls formal and substantive rationality respectively. I shall briefly comment on these

two. But I shall also touch on the other modes or types of rationality which are practical and

theoretical rationalization.

1.3.1.1. Formal Rationality

Formal rationality refers to the reasoning process that determines the means necessary

to attain an intellectual operation focusing exclusively on the means.23 Formal rationality is

strategic thinking. Its sole aim according to Weber is to find a way to get from one point to

another, not to determine whether the endpoint is a goal worth pursuing or indifferent with

respect to ends values or the question of content.24 It is not intrinsically directed towards any

particular purpose. For this reason, Weber holds that it is value neutral, instrumental or

technical intellectual operation. Thus we find Weber employing a wide variety of descriptive

terms in refereeing it, such as purposive rationality, instrumental rationality, means end

rationality and technical rationality. Freund will call it technocratic thinking.

1.3.1.2. Substantive Rationality.

Substantive rationality on the other hand refers to the value of end as perceived from a

particular point of view. An ascetic for example perceives his continent to the value of rational

end given his commitment to the value of asceticism. For Weber action of an ascetic constitutes

value rational behavior because they flow from a conscious belief in the intrinsic worth of this

20 Elwell, Frank W. (1999), Industrializing America: Understanding Contemporary Society through Classical

Sociological Analysis. (West Port, Connecticut: Praeger). 21 Gerth, Hans and C. Wright Mills (translators and editors). 1946 (1958) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology.

(New York: Galaxy Books). 22 Honigshein Paul (1968), On Marx Weber, (New York: Free Press), 25. 23 George Reitzer (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theories, 143. 24 Gilbert .G Germain, (1993), A discourse on Disenchantment: Reflections on Policies and Technology, 36.

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way of acting. But this understanding of formal and substantive rationally is subjectively

defined as Weber will put it.25

1.3.1.3. Practical Rationality

Practical rationality is based on an individual's experience and context. By considering

their observations in light of their desired ends, individuals weigh their options and pursue the

actions that are most likely to bring about those ends. Practical rationality is pragmatic and

assumes action. Weber believed, like Sigmund Freud and later Michele Foucault, that culture

and its institutions of rationality shape practical reason. Thus, this type of rationality according

to Weber exists as a manifestation of man's capacity for means-end rational action. Wherever

the bonds of primitive magic have been severed, the capability and disposition of persons for

practical rational patterns of action appears whether in ages deeply imprinted by ethical

salvation religions or in fully secular epochs.26

1.3.1.4. Formal Rationality

This type of rationality involves a conscious mastery of reality through the

construction of increasingly precise abstract concepts rather than through action. Since a

cognitive confrontation with one's experience prevails here, such thought processes as logical

deduction and induction, the attribution of causality, and the formation of symbolic "meanings"

are typical. More generally, all abstract cognitive processes, in all their expansive active forms,

denote theoretical rationality.27

Weber discovered a great variety of systematic thinkers who practiced this type of

rationality. In the earliest stages of history, sorcerers and ritualistic priests sought abstract

means of taming nature and the super- natural. With the appearance of ethical salvation

religions, ethical priests, monks, and theologians rationalized the values implicit in doctrines

into internally consistent constellations of values, or world views that offered comprehensive

explanations for the perpetuation of suffering. Philosophers of all shades have also pondered

nature and society and have repeatedly refined conceptual schemes that explained their

workings. Theoretical rationalization processes may also be carried out by judges who interpret

25 Ibid, 36.

26 Talcott Parsons, (1930), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (New York :) 27 Weber, Max. ‘Science as a Vocation

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the incipient world view found in political constitutions or by the disciples of a revolutionary

theorist, such as those that have continually arisen to refine Marxian doctrine.28

From this background one can confirm with other theories that Formal rationality

typifies bureaucratic institutions. Formal rationality embraces the norms, rules, and laws of

economic, legal, and scientific organizations. With the rise of the rational structures within the

church, even religion has become subjected to formal rationality. Adherence to formal

rationality is based on an impersonal bond. This bond, something Sigmund Freud called guilt

and Michel Foucault termed discipline, imposes adherence and action Formal rationality is the

most coercive rationality and the most prevalent in social structures.

1.4. AN ASSESSMENT OF MAX WEBER

Positive Assessment

Large questions about the modern world drove Weber’s sociology. Scholars tend to say

at times that Weber’s line of thought is very complicated. But what Weber was grappling with

is the fate of ethical action, the unique individual, the personality unified by reference to a

constellation of noble values and compassion in the industrial society. He was also trying to

make a point on the question that: what does the rise of capitalism imply for the type of person

who will live within this new cosmos. How can we understand the subjectively meaningful

action of persons in other civilizations and epochs on their own terms rather than by reference

to hierarchy of western values? What are the parameters for social change in the west?

According to Reitzer, Sociologists today rarely ask questions of this magnitude. Weber

created a rigorous and distinct approach that combined concrete empirical description with

theoretical generalization. Distinguished by its staggering comparative and historical breath,

his sociology investigates the social action of persons by reference to values, traditions interest

and emotions.29 One interesting thing we may notice about Weber as Ritzer would say is that

Weber’s sociology seeks to offer causal analysis of unique cases and proceeds by reference to

ideal types , societal domains, social contexts and the exploration of subjective meaning.30

28 Ibid. 29 George Reitzer (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theories, ( Australia: Blackwell

Publishing), 143 30 Ibid, 182

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Weber’s thought emphasize that the past is ineluctably intertwined with the present and assert

that the orientation of social action to religious, economic, rulership, legal familial and status

group factors all must be acknowledged as causally significant; geographical forces, power,

social carriers, historical events, competition, conflict and technology must also be recognized

as viable causal forces.

I must praise Weber for the line of thought he displays in his historical process and how

he brings the whole concept of disenchantment placing rationality at the center of the trajectory.

He can be hailed for contributing to how a movement from one historical process to another

shaped society.

Negative Assessment

The first thing that I would I like to point out as far as Weber is concern is that his

material is too tough to crack. He wrote in German and as the saying goes every translation is

a betrayal. But coming back to his concept of rationality, I would say that he determined history

to be following a rational process. Rationality is the moving force of history. Even in his

concept of disenchantment it is the movement away from superstition and magic towards a

world where reason reigns supreme.

It is too much to assume that Europe or the west or his confined Germany, being what

it is, is solely a product of rationality or has being guided by rational forces and reason alone.

That is the kind of flavour one gets in Weber’s line of thought. Every era of history has

something that made the society of that time to be what it is. But for modern society to reach

where, it is, it’s a combination of factors; raging from religious, cultural, anthropological,

geographical and social. An idealistic approach to reality has its own short comings.

Although he might followed a multi-facet structure in his line of thought, unlike Karl

Marx who followed a linear historical process; there are still such overtones registered in

Weber’s frame work. A closer look at his method can also lead one to say that his historical

conception is linear. Because we have a time were magic reigns and at some point magic gives

way to religion and religion soon gives way to reason and science and technology. This kind

of movement is evolutionist.

Considering the underlying philosophical assumptions of disenchantment, there are

primarily two points that should be mentioned. The first is epistemic optimism about gaining

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knowledge of the physical world. The second is scepticism concerning knowledge of meaning

and value, as well as of metaphysics. These twin points govern the ideal relationship between

science and religion in a disenchanted world. The principal meaning of the disenchantment of

the world was the dissipation of ‘mysterious incalculable forces. As a matter of principle

modern ‘empirical science’ has expelled the possibility of genuinely capricious events. This is

the basis of the epistemic optimism: since no essentially unpredictable causal forces exist in

the world, everything can be explained, determined and mastered by calculations and

technological interventions. Uncovering the mechanisms of nature in this way is the business

of ‘empirical science. To also say that everything is to be measured by calculations is a

shortcoming in Weber’s thought. There are certain mysteries about the world that go beyond

science abd beyond reason and no human mind can measure or calculate.

CONCLUSION

Max Weber remains one of the prominent sociologists that have moved scholars of our

time. His thoughts have moved society and change society too. Though his works are complex

to understand he has remained a great model for sociologists. Form all that has been said, one

can deduced that all Max Weber is trying to do is, as a sociologist he is naturally drawn towards

understanding why individuals in a given setting act as they do. From his theory of

disenchantment one can say taking from a sociological perspective that, Max Weber purpose

was not to prove how science disenchanted the world. But how is it that human beings have

come to act as if the world is disenchanted. So Weber was primarily concerned with those

forces in society which have the ability to substantively reinforce or alter patterns of human

behaviour.